A drill bit storage box with an integral gauge is provided. The storage box has a hinged top surface, a bottom, slanted sides and an interior. The top surface has a plurality of various sized openings for receiving drill bits, with each opening corresponding to a specific size drill bit. The interior of the storage box has a plurality of holding bins located beneath the plurality of openings of the top surface. When a drill bit is placed through the opening which corresponds to the exact diameter of the drill bit on the top surface and the drill bit is released, the drill bit falls into the correct corresponding holding bin within the interior of the storage box. In this manner, a random number of drill bits may be sized and stored for future use.
Wood, plastic and metal commercial and home workshops normally make use of manual and electric drills to make holes in various types of materials. The holes can often range from less than 1/16 inch to over ½ inch in diameter. Cutting these holes is often by means of a “drill bit”, each with a unique diameter. A full complement of drill bits can have over twenty-five sizes, with often 1/64 inch separating adjacent sizes. This makes visual inspection difficult, as the drill bits are rarely or clearly marked as to their sizes.
To facilitate determining the size of a drill bit, gauges are sold which have a series of holes, each representing a specific drill bit size. When a set of drill bits are sold they often come in a case with means of storing a single bit of the sizes provided in the set.
In situations where a workshop has multiple copies of a drill bit of a specific size, storage cabinets are sold, with compartments to store multiple copies of several sizes of drill bits. However, there is no means against a drill bit being placed in the wrong compartment, due to simple visual inspection. The present device provides for accurate sizing of the drill bits and the storage thereof of multiple copies of each size within the device.
Boxes for storing drill bits have been invented in the past. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,631,802 to Hsu discloses a tool box drill bit retainer that provides for the containment of different diameter drill bits inside the tool box, the primary application of which is keeping larger size drill bits within the drill bit recess of the tool box. The improved structure of the drill bit retainer effectively enhances the orderly securing of drill bits in the tool box and increases product practicality.
Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,005 to Hemmings discloses a shipping container for holding a variable number of drill bits immobile, thereby preventing potentially damaging contact of the drill bit points with interior walls of the container has a concave base section hingedly connected to a symmetrically-shaped lid section which is pivotable downwards into contact with the base to form a closed, rectangular box-like enclosure. Rows of cylindrical pins protrude upwards from the upper surface of the bottom wall of the base and are adapted to be insertably received in bores provided into the lower surface of an elongated, slab-shaped drill bit carrier, each row of pins thus holding a separate carrier in a horizontally fixed position relative to the base. A plurality of parallel vertically disposed, longitudinally spaced apart drill bit bores extending downward into each carrier from the flat upper surface of the carrier is adapted to insertably receive a plurality of drill bits, the shank of each drill bit being fitted with an annular insertion depth-limiting ring near the junction of the shank with the fluted cutting region of the drill bit. The lid is provided with a plurality of retainer plates which protrude downwards from the lower surface of the top wall of the lid. With the lid in a downward, closed position, as separate plate is positioned between adjacent pairs of drill bit bores, the lower surface of the plate being positioned just above the upper surface of insertion rings on bits positioned in the bores, thereby limiting upward movement of the rings and attached drill bits.
Still further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,882 to Kohagura discloses a tool box assembly having a first surface with a first aperture there through for retaining a tool (such as a drill bit) having a longitudinal axis. A second surface is provided having a second aperture there through for retaining the tool. The first surface is retained relative to the second surface whereby the tool may translate along the longitudinal axis thereof through the first aperture in the first surface and the second aperture in the second surface when the first surface is in a first position relative to the second surface land be restrained against translation along the longitudinal axis thereof when the first surface is in a second position relative to the second surface.
However, these patents fail to describe a drill bit storage box with an integral gauge which is easy to use and efficient as in the present application. Further, these patents fail to provide a drill bit storage box with an integral gauge having an interior holding bin for multiple copies of each size drill bit wherein the drill bit automatically falls into the correct drill bit holding bin for subsequent use.